The news he's broken has been covered by outlets like the BBC, The Verge, Slate, Gizmodo, Engadget, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, ZDNet, The Next Web, and Techmeme. Beyond the column, he wrote about everything from Windows to tech travel tips. He founded PCWorld's 'World Beyond Windows' column, which covered the latest developments in open-source operating systems like Linux and Chrome OS. He also wrote the USA's most-saved article of 2021, according to Pocket.Ĭhris was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Beyond the web, his work has appeared in the print edition of The New York Times (September 9, 2019) and in PCWorld's print magazines, specifically in the August 2013 and July 2013 editions, where his story was on the cover.

With over a decade of writing experience in the field of technology, Chris has written for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Reader's Digest, IDG's PCWorld, Digital Trends, and MakeUseOf. Chris has personally written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than one billion times-and that's just here at How-To Geek. Here's how to check.Ĭhris Hoffman is the former Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. Head to the Microsoft Defender Offline download page, scroll down, open the section titled 'Using Microsoft Defender Offline on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1,' and download either the 32-bit or 64-bit version depending on whether your PC is running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows. Malware can interfere with the media creation process if it's running in the background, so if you're concerned your current PC might be infected, use another PC to download Microsoft Defender Offline and create the media. Microsoft recommends creating bootable media on a known-clean computer. This works identically to the Microsoft Defender Offline feature on Windows 10, but requires you create the bootable media and boot it up yourself. Restart your computer and boot from the offline scanner.įor previous versions of Windows, you can download Microsoft Defender Offline, create a bootable USB drive, CD, or DVD, and boot the Microsoft Defender Offline tool on the PC.

Run the executable and create your bootable media (a USB drive or CD/DVD).

Go to Microsoft website and download the offline scanner.

Related: How Do I Know if I’m Running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows? How to Run Microsoft Defender Offline on Windows 7 and 8.1

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